flashingqwerty

No chance of us scoring today

Did he? Terry was here before him, and Shakespeare was brought in by the team, not only Smith. As far as I know, O'Kelly is the only coach specifically brought in by Smith. Not a glowing review.

I think hes not great, and i see no improvement in him. The team has improved, but is that necessarily down to him or the money thats been spent and the addition of Shakespeare to the coaching team? We'll never know. To answer your question, top half finish, and i'd give him more time. Failure to achieve that, and he should be replaced.

Yes, but so easily avoided with a different starting 11. DS is sleepwalking at the moment. Picking his favourites without considering the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition. Completely ridiculous.

Effectively 0laying with 9 men such is how little Barkley and Traore offer. DS has made a complete mess of this. We needed to battle and work hard today and he leaves in our 2 laziest players. Disgraceful and proves to me is is not up to management at the level we aspire to be at. Totally out of his depth

Comical defending. elmo clueless

Barkley giving it away under no pressure. Hes so useless. Absolutely criminal that he starts again

Great stuff from watkins there

Barkley offering nothing as usual and Traore a complete liability. Its almost like nothing has changed from the last few games - i wonder who could predict that?

Very lucky there could have gone anywhere

Elmo and Traore completely clueless

Great control from aeg there

Mings heading the air there quality defending

Smith so upset about poor form and poor performances that he has made no changes other than enforced ones - joker. Expect a thumping with Barkley and Traore starting. Smith again highlighting how truly clueless he is tactically.

Think Jacks out...

If Barkley starts we lose. We are going to need to outwork leicester, that won't happen if Barkley plays.

This is what I'd put out: Emi Elmo Konsa Mings Targett Nakamba Luiz Trez Sanson Grealish Watkins What I expect to see: Emi Elmo Konsa Mings Targett McGinn Luiz Traore Barkley Grealish Watkins And if we start with that team, I expect a tonking: 5-0 With my team, I still think we will lose, but I think it'll be a better performance and lower scoreline.

Great post! Glad some people are paying attention! This isn't isolated, it's a pattern. But we keep falling into the same trap because we only know how to play 1 way. Its annoying

Managers, like players, have their levels. Clubs have aspirations. I'm pointing out patterns that have existed in DS in multiple clubs that appear to not be progressing. At the level this club wants to be operating at, the manager needs to show he can progress with it. He's done a good so far, but he is far from being above reproach. The criticisms I had of him when he arrived are the same ones I have now. The playing staff has been improved with significant outlay, and addition coaching staff brought in to address issues DS wasn't addressing himself. I think DS is operating above his ceiling right now as I don't see him improving.

I never said manager out. Yet again you are putting words 8nto my mouth. You might want to spend more time actually reading what's written rather than looking for things between the lines, because you're finding things that simply are not there.

How much of it is down to DS and how much is down to the coaching and recruitment staff? We don't know what's happening behind closed doors, or what might have been with a different manager.

Swing of 15% in our favour for possession and 20% in our favour in territory. Sure hardly any difference at all...

Is that what happened in the other matches where Barkley was taken off too? It must just be a coincidence that we control games more when hes not on the pitch

Villa, Brentford and Walsall. In all 3 positions he has had a tendancy to not use his subs, and when he does, they tend to be very late in a game. Its rare he makes changes early in games, and even rarer that he makes subs that are not like for like replacements.

I haven't said that. What I have said, is our midfield would have not been so easy to play through if he were not on the pitch. Evinced by that actually happening when he went off.